“Shou… Shouyi…”

“Auntie, Auntie is going out to have a look.”

A pair of large, dark, somber eyes stared at Shu Wanxiu, making her heart flutter with panic. After speaking, she fled the room as if choosing a path at random. It wasn’t until her back was pressed against the earthen wall, with something solid to lean on, that she was able to soothe her racing heart and slowly stop her cold sweat.

Shu Wanxiu had never known before that a small child could suffer from hysteria.

She remembered when they had first fled to Fangyuan County. Refugees like them were not allowed to enter the city. But they had been on the run for too long, and everyone had reached the end of their rope, with no strength left to go on.

Some said that rather than starve to death, they should work together to break down the city gates and rush in to seize grain.

Others argued that they wouldn’t succeed in a robbery like that; they would be killed by the city guards for causing a disturbance before they even got inside.

So someone took the lead, guiding them to all kneel together a few dozen zhang from the county gate, begging the common folk or the officials inside to show some kindness and give them some relief grain.

Shu Wanxiu knelt with the crowd, her nephew in her arms, but her heart was filled with despair.

They had passed through so many prefectures and counties on their journey, but which one had been willing to open its gates and take them in? She had thought there would be a way to survive after fleeing their home, but she never expected… It would have been better to have dug a pit in the fields back home and climbed into it herself when death was near. That would have been better than now, with her parents, brother, and sister-in-law all having perished along the way, the family members buried in separate places after their deaths.

Unexpectedly, just as she was sobbing over her nephew, who had collapsed on the ground with only a final breath left in him, hope arrived.

The city gates opened. A wealthy merchant, out of the goodness of his heart, had his servants set up two sheds at the gate to distribute congee.

In an instant, she was like a withered tree finding spring. She bit her wrist and fed Shu Shouyi her own blood to keep him alive.

After that, they survived for a time on the free congee they received each day.

Later, the government office received a document from the imperial court. Following the decree, they were to be settled, and doctors from the city were dispatched to treat the refugees.

Ever since her brother and sister-in-law had passed away, Shu Wanxiu had occasionally sensed that Shu Shouyi was in a daze. Many times, he wouldn’t respond when she called him, and he would often stare at empty spaces, muttering about who knows what.

With doctors providing free consultations, she naturally squeezed through the crowds, determined to have a doctor examine her nephew.

Unexpectedly, after a thorough diagnosis, the doctor said Shu Shouyi was suffering from hysteria.

To put it nicely, the illness was called hysteria. To put it bluntly… it was madness.

In that moment, Shu Wanxiu felt as if she had been struck by lightning.

When she came to her senses, she kept this news a deathly secret, not even telling her closest relatives.

Whenever someone asked out of curiosity as she brewed his medicine, she would just pretend to be calm and say it was a remedy for a deficiency of the heart and spleen.

Fearing that others would notice something was wrong if they talked to Shu Shouyi, she had no choice but to hold him in her arms day after day. She had finally, with great difficulty, waited until the government registered them. Now that they were villagers of Wupai Village, it was best to get her nephew’s illness treated as quickly as possible.

It was getting late. Shu Shouyi had to take his medicine twice a day, and she absolutely could not miss a dose.

He was, after all, her blood relative. The fear was only temporary.

Once Shu Wanxiu had calmed down, she worried her nephew might run off on his own, so she poked her head back into the room and beckoned the child out.

“Come on, let’s go with Auntie to check the other room.”

Before pushing the door open, Shu Wanxiu prayed incessantly in her heart, hoping to find something useful. Whether it was farm tools, cooking utensils, a wooden bucket, or a water vat—anything but complete emptiness again.

But she was to be sorely disappointed.

If the room they had seen before was the bedroom, then this one was the main hall. Inside, apart from a three-legged long bench and a dark Bamboo Basket hanging on the wall, there was nothing else.

She walked around the front and back of the house once more. Behind the house was a latrine. On the other side of the main hall was a half-collapsed shed, under which sat a double-pot earthen stove, also half-collapsed.

The two stove eyes were empty, with no pots in them. However, a dust-covered Gourd Ladle was placed upside-down beside the stove.

Shu Wanxiu was not ready to give up. Without even a clay pot, how was she to brew the medicine?

She pondered for a moment, recalling that on their way up, Pang Lizhang had said the previous owner of this thatched cottage was his eighth grand-uncle.

Since he was an elderly man, he must have had some aches and pains from time to time, right? It was unlikely he never took medicine.

And if he took medicine, how could he not have a pot for brewing it?

It was perfectly normal for others to take things like water vats and wooden buckets after a house became unoccupied.

But a medicine pot was something people usually wouldn’t take. A healthy person would more or less feel it was unlucky to bring a medicine pot home.

Shu Wanxiu crouched down and searched carefully. After some effort, she finally found it inside the stove’s firebox.

Finding a bit of humor in her hardship, she said to Shu Shouyi, “This really wasn’t easy. After being deserted for so many years, we still managed to find three intact items.”

One was the Bamboo Basket hanging on the wall in the main hall, the second was the Gourd Ladle on the stove, and the third was this well-hidden, undamaged pot.

She had a pot for the medicine, but other problems urgently needed solving.

After walking half a day on mountain roads, they had to eat an evening meal, didn’t they? Even if it was just a thin congee made with a small handful of rice.

The sky was darkening. Shu Wanxiu quickly took Shu Shouyi to gather firewood near the house. She had to put down the grain sack in her hands, tying the opening with long-stemmed wild grass and placing it on the wooden bed with the collapsed leg in the bedroom.

It had rained that morning and the sun hadn’t come out since, so the fallen leaves and branches in the woods were still damp.

But the aunt and nephew had no other choice. They gathered some leaves for kindling and some branches. As she gathered, Shu Wanxiu remembered they had no means to start a fire, and the chances of igniting damp wood by drilling were too slim. She would probably have to go down the mountain later to borrow a Flint.

Once the firewood was ready, she carried it all to the stove and dropped it. Then, hugging the clay pot she had found and holding Shu Shouyi’s hand, she hurried down the mountain.

There was no well on the mountain; they had to go down to get water. Before they came up, Pang Lizhang had told them where to go.

She planned to go to the stream at the foot of the mountain to wash the clay pot and fetch a potful of water to brew the medicine. Additionally, she intended to ask for directions to Pang Lizhang’s house to borrow a cooking pot, a Flint, and other things.

Although she said she was hurrying, the journey wasn’t that smooth.

After all, she had only walked the mountain path once and needed to be careful not to take a wrong turn. The ground was also slippery; the path, washed smooth by the rain, was the most difficult to walk on. A moment of carelessness could lead to a slip and fall.

Shu Wanxiu held tightly to Shu Shouyi’s hand, choosing to walk on places with gravel, wild grass, or softer soil.

Halfway down, a thin layer of sweat broke out on her back. Shu Shouyi, however, suddenly slowed his pace. He cocked his ear toward the direction of the mountain’s base, then tugged on Shu Wanxiu’s hand and stomped his foot. “Auntie, there are people.”

Shu Wanxiu thought he was hearing things and paid it no mind. “It’s already half dark. Why would anyone be coming up the mountain?”

“Is Shouyi tired? Do you want Auntie to carry you for a bit?”

Although Shu Wanxiu was already exhausted and her legs felt weak, she still remembered the scene of her brother and sister-in-law entrusting their son to her on their deathbeds.

Part of the grain they had brought while fleeing had been stolen along the way, and what was left was only enough for their family of six to survive until the halfway point.

They had gnawed on tree bark and eaten grass. When they encountered populated areas, the whole family had knelt and kowtowed to beg for food.

When their food supply was about to run out, Shu Wanxiu’s parents began to secretly eat dirt behind their backs, leaving more of the grain for them.

Gradually, the two elders’ bellies swelled. They were both bloated and thirsty. When they passed by a river, the old couple couldn’t bear their thirst any longer. They knelt by the riverbank, scooping up water and drinking it handful after handful until they couldn’t walk and collapsed into the river.

Although they were quickly pulled ashore… the two elders died that night from abdominal pain.

After burying her parents, her elder brother led the remaining four family members to continue their journey with their clansmen.

Her brother was a good brother, and her sister-in-law was the best sister-in-law in the world.

They took over as the heads of the family. Although opportunities to beg for food were still scarce, her brother and sister-in-law watched over her strictly, not only forbidding her from eating dirt but also always giving her the precious food they had.

If not for their care, Shu Wanxiu would have starved to death long ago.

Her brother and sister-in-law had traded their lives for hers, so she would never forget the promise she had made. No matter how bitter or tiring the rest of her life was, she had to take good care of Shu Shouyi and protect the only bloodline her brother and sister-in-law had left in this world.

Shu Shouyi shook his head and sidestepped to hide behind Shu Wanxiu.

At that moment, Shu Wanxiu finally heard some sounds.

…

After leaving the Wang family’s house, Pang Zhishan hurried home.

It was already past the usual time for the evening meal. When his wife, Chen Sanhe, saw him return, she quickly sent their daughter-in-law to bring the food that was being kept warm on the stove to the table, while she herself came out to ask about the situation.

“Settling them was easy enough. It’s just an aunt and her nephew, so Eighth Grand-uncle’s house is big enough. But there’s nothing in the house on the mountain. We need to get some things and send them up right away.”

On the way, Pang Zhishan had already thought about what to take from his own home to help the two of them. So, after sitting down at the dinner table, he told his wife and son what things to pack.

After listening, Chen Sanhe felt that what her husband wanted their family to prepare wasn’t much, so she asked one more question: “How much luggage did they bring with them?”

Their daughter-in-law had set out the dishes. Pang Zhishan hastily picked up his bowl and shoveled a mouthful of rice. Only then did he reach his chopsticks out for a slice of white melon on the plate. Hearing the question, he swallowed the rice in his mouth and said, “A sack of relief grain from the government and two broken ceramic bowls.”

“…That’s it?”

“What else could there be? The two of them are pitiful. They’re called aunt and nephew, but the aunt is just an unmarried girl, leading a four-year-old boy. Both of them are stick-thin. Anything that could be exchanged for money or grain would have been pawned long ago on the road.”

He couldn’t help but also mention how their entire family had fled from the famine, with only the two of them left in the end. Chen Sanhe sighed endlessly as she listened.

“How could it be so tragic?”

Pang Zhishan was busy shoveling down his rice and had no time to talk. Their eldest son, Pang Qingshui, chimed in from the side, “Didn’t the Xun Family Boy also come here as a refugee a few years ago? I remember Father brought him back from the county town then, too. Both his parents didn’t make it on the road, leaving him to survive with his younger sister. He didn’t have many belongings either, just a bow when he entered the village.”

As Pang Qingshui spoke, he had a realization. “It’s clear that fleeing a famine is a truly tragic affair. Never mind all the suffering and hardship on the road; in the process of fleeing, families just fall apart.”

Hearing this, Chen Sanhe felt even more distressed. She sighed and pulled her son’s arm. “Let’s not talk about it, let’s not talk about it. Listen to your father. Let’s go pack things up.”

Halfway there, she turned back and asked, “Have the aunt and nephew had their evening meal?”

Of course, they hadn’t.

The Pang family gathered the items according to Pang Zhishan’s instructions and headed up the mountain as soon as they were ready.

The Pang household had actually been very lively today. Neighbors had started dropping by in the afternoon, all waiting for Pang Zhishan to return to find out how the refugees would be settled this time.

These people only dispersed around dusk when the Pang family lit their fire to cook the evening meal.

Now, as the Pang family walked, they were questioned by many villagers. Pang Zhishan gave a few brief explanations. Some people, upon hearing the situation, spontaneously followed along to go up the mountain together.

What started as a few people grew to more than ten. Although it was getting late, it didn’t matter; there was safety in numbers. By the time they passed the Wang family’s house, the group had formed a long line.

Without Pang Zhishan needing to call out, the appearance of such a large group had already been heard by Wang Jincai. He came out of his house on his own accord, shouldered the two bundles of firewood he had placed by the door, and joined the procession.

The group was led by Pang Zhishan, while the others chattered and talked amongst themselves. They were still a good distance from the thatched cottage halfway up the mountain when Pang Zhishan suddenly stopped and looked ahead, asking, “Why are you two outside?”

Everyone’s gaze shifted forward.

It was that time when the sky was about to turn dark but wasn’t completely black yet. The small path up the mountain was flanked by shrubs and wild grass, which were not particularly lush this season, and many of the grass blades had already withered.

A tall and a short figure stood huddled together by the roadside. The smaller one was hiding behind the taller one, revealing only a large head and one side of a scrawny body.

The taller one was draped in loose-fitting linen clothes. Even in the dim light, one could see several tattered spots. They probably hadn’t had time to tidy up; both of their hair was messy, like withered grass, and their faces couldn’t be seen clearly.

Shu Wanxiu also saw the large group. Seeing so many people, she felt a little timid, but she had no choice but to take a deep breath. Under everyone’s scrutiny, she mustered her courage and answered Pang Lizhang’s question, “We were planning to go down the mountain to find your home and borrow some utensils.”